June Updates from the County Board

posted by Katie Cristol | 117sc
July 10, 2016

The heat is upon us, school is (nearly) out for summer, and July 4th weekend is right around the corner.

I hope you can join me on Friday, July 1st to start your holiday weekend at the First Annual Great Arlington Bake-Off at Barcroft Community House, 800 South Buchanan Street, starting at 7 pm. We're looking forward to launching a tradition, and hope you'll be there. Sign up to enter your prize-winning baked goods for a chance to earn a blue ribbon at http://goo.gl/forms/eOFaIAtX1o.

There's been no early summer slow-down for the County Board this year, as we continue evaluating and collaborating with our School Board colleagues on the 2017-2026 Capital Improvement Plan. Recent CIP work sessions have focused on the recommendations of our hardworking Fire Station 8 Task Force, which recently advised us to build a new, four-bay station at the current Lee Highway site, and APS' plan to meet growing student enrollments (view the School Board's adopted CIP here.)

We'll be listening to residents' priorities at our public hearing tonight, and adopting a CIP - and language for this fall's bond referenda - in mid-July. Learn more about what's in the proposed CIP, from neighborhood conservation to WMATA capital funding, here.

Finally, amid a busy docket of site plans and street lights, I'm proud of our recent Board actions in service of Arlington's key values of inclusiveness and diversity. At our June recessed meeting yesterday, we voted on a resolution introduced by my colleague Christian Dorsey to encourage General Assembly action on "driver's licenses for all": Policies like those passed in California, Utah and Maryland, among other states, that enable undocumented residents to seek drivers' licenses (and make our roads safer and insurance premiums lower in the process). In response to growing community concerns, I also shared a statement to remind our residents that they can seek help from public safety officials in Arlington County without fear of investigation of their immigration status. Read more at: https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/arlington-county-board-reassures-immigrants-2/.

For more on what my colleagues and I are working on -- from bus service on Columbia Pike to historic designation of Stratford School in North Arlington -- follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/katiecristolforarlington/.